Former Genoa mayor again accused of sexual abuse

KIRKLAND – Genoa’s former mayor, who was acquitted of sex abuse in 2001, is expected in court Tuesday on recent charges of grabbing a woman and rubbing against her.

David Rood, 80, of the 8800 block of North Rood Road in Kingston, was charged with criminal sexual abuse and battery of a real estate agent who was showing him a house April 25 in Kirkland. The more serious charge, criminal sexual abuse, is a felony typically punishable with probation or up to three years in prison.

Rood initially faced only a misdemeanor, which was filed May 6, but prosecutors added the more serious charge June 17 after a review of the case.

When reached for comment Thursday, Rood declined to comment on the allegations but said the alleged victim had “done a lot for him” in previous business dealings. Court documents allege Rood grabbed the woman by the waist, placed his hands underneath her clothing and rubbed against her leg.

Rood faced similar charges in August 2000, when he was mayor of Genoa. In that case, a different woman alleged that Rood grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him and pressed himself against her in rural Kingston on April 28, 2000.

In November 2001, DeKalb County Circuit Judge Douglas Engel acquitted Rood of those charges, finding special prosecutor Gregg Ingemunson fell “far short of proving the case,” the Daily Chronicle reported at the time.

Rood was asked to resign as mayor by all but one of the city’s aldermen. He refused, but did not run for re-election.

Before the trial started in that case, Rood’s attorney, Gary Johnson, claimed the woman, who was not involved with Genoa city government, wanted to make Rood “one of her many trophies in her long history of civil litigation” and claimed the woman’s finances were in dire straits.